NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...
- (horn honks) - ALEX: Look at that.
That's really something. (chuckles)
That excavator looks really big.
RICK: If there is a ship there, then I want to see the evidence.
That piece of bell metal might be associated
- with Portuguese. - CHRISTA: The tin,
it's been used in the production of cannons.
GARY: Ooh, look at that.
That is bloody cool, mate.
CARMEN: You would use a tool like this
for smoothing timbers.
- To sink a shaft. - TERRY: Wow.
Seems to me, it's a shaft wall.
I can't explain it.
NARRATOR: There is an island in the North Atlantic
where people have been looking for
an incredible treasure for more than 200 years.
So far, they have found a stone slab
with strange symbols carved into it...
man-made workings that date to medieval times,
and a lead cross whose origin may be connected
to the Knights Templar.
To date, six men have died
trying to solve the mystery.
And according to legend, one more will have to die
before the treasure can be found.
♪ ♪
MARTY: Welcome to the war room, guys.
We're here to talk about where we can dig
and where we can't dig and where we should dig
and where we're gonna dig.
- Good. - NARRATOR: It is the beginning
of a new day on Oak Island,
but before they proceed with any new search activities
in a quest to solve a 226-year-old mystery,
brothers Rick and Marty Lagina gather in the war room
with archaeologist Laird Niven and other members of their team.
- So, what can we do, Laird? - LAIRD: Well...
What can we dig in the swamp and how?
So, we've applied for a swamp general permit,
and that's been approved.
- Oh. - We do have permission
to dig on the south side.
The paved area has also been approved.
- Right now, it's the south of swamp... - Yeah.
- and the paved area. - Yeah.
- Okay. - And we just have to be careful of the...
Yeah, the-the circle thing.
- Yeah. Yeah. - Yeah.
NARRATOR: One month ago,
while investigating a stone pathway
in the southeastern corner of the swamp
that may be leading to the Money Pit...
LIZ: What you got?
LAIRD: I have a piece of pottery.
NARRATOR: Laird Niven unearthed pieces
of indigenous Mi'kmaq pottery that could be
more than 500 years old.
LAIRD: This one's the most delicate I've ever seen.
NARRATOR: These discoveries led
to the provincial Department of Community, Culture and Heritage
issuing a shocking mandate
for search activities outside the Money Pit area.
LAIRD: The archeologists asked
that we stop down.
We stop work at the two areas
where we were finding the artifacts.
STEVE G.: We have free range inside of the green.
Any activity inside the green, we're allowed to pursue.
- MARTY: And the red? - We need special permission
to be inside of the red.
The swamp was sort of giving up its secrets
right about the time this happened.
So, yeah, it-it's painful.
But we have always moved forward optimistically and hopefully,
and that's how we're gonna approach it.
RICK: We know that there are restrictions placed on our work
by Communities, Culture and Heritage.
But we do have some permission-- Or permits, I should say--
To dig along the edge of the swamp road.
You know, I-I've been completely wrong about the swamp,
and I'll freely admit it, but I think every time
we've dug of any substance, we've found something.
Right.
Again, everything goes back to Tom, your father,
- his interest, and your interest. - Yep.
I asked you long ago,
I said, "Tom, if there's anything to find on Oak Island,
where is it?" What did you tell me?
I said, "It's in the swamp."
I said, "That's where answers are,
- to what we're looking for." - There you go.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: After the late landowner
and treasure hunter Fred Nolan
drained the swamp back in 1969
and discovered several parts of a sailing vessel,
including a ship's mast,
he became convinced that the swamp
had been artificially created in order to hide
the wreck of a massive treasure galleon.
Although Fred was never able to prove it,
over the past four years working with Fred's son Tom...
That is not something that should be in a swamp.
NARRATOR: Rick, Marty, Craig and the team
have made discoveries in the brackish bog
that support the incredible theory.
TERRY D.: That is very impressive. Wow.
NARRATOR: These finds include the stone wharf
in the southeastern corner,
which historian Terry Deveau believes
could be of Portuguese origin...
This is 16th-century and before.
(laughs): That's remarkable.
NARRATOR: and numerous wooden artifacts
such as a possible piece of ship's railing
that has been carbon-dated to as early as 660 AD.
However, one of the most compelling potential clues
was identified in 2018 by seismic scanning
that was conducted across the swamp...
a mysterious 200-foot-long ship-shaped anomaly.
So, Billy, can we get a swamp excavator?
The swamp excavator is good, certainly out in the middle,
but if we're doing the edges, a-a long-reach is better.
What is "long-reach" that you're thinking? What is that?
It would be 80-foot long-reach.
Hmm. That's pretty good.
- BILLY: Yep. - MARTY: Um, I say we do it.
Anybody have any other thoughts?
I think we should.
- MARTY: Yeah. - TOM: There's always information
in that swamp, every time we dig in it.
So, if we get a machine here that can do it,
let's-let's get on that south side and start digging.
Right.
Craig, what do you say?
Yeah, I-I agree. I mean,
the extended reach will be perfect.
Billy, you got a unanimous decision
- out of this group. - (laughter)
That's pretty exciting.
- (laughter) - It is.
- Yeah. - All right, well, let's do it.
Why don't you get that in motion, Billy,
and we're gonna, you know, we'll dig, we'll dig in the swamp.
RICK: There's a lot to hope for, but it won't get done
- unless you start. - Yep.
- So, let's get going. - Okay.
MARTY: Okay. Let's dig the swamp.
- BILLY: Yep. - RICK: Okey doke.
NARRATOR: Later that morning, while the team arranges
to obtain their new piece of heavy digging equipment...
- CHARLES: Core coming in. - TERRY: All right.
NARRATOR: in the Money Pit area,
geologist Terry Matheson,
Oak Island historian Charles Barkhouse
and members of the team have begun drilling
a new six-inch borehole known as F-2.
- Hey, guys. - Hey, Brennan. How you doing?
- Good. How are you? - Good.
- Fresh core? - CHARLES: Yep.
- What do we got, Adam? - ADAM: 53.
- 49 to 53? - Yes.
NARRATOR: Over the past six weeks,
Rick, Marty, Craig and the team have been conducting
an operation to drill some 20 new boreholes
on a strategic grid in an area known as the C-1 cluster.
It is here, in the vicinity of the C-1 shaft,
that they have not only recovered pieces of metal,
as well as water samples containing traces
of both silver and gold
but also, evidence of wooden tunnels
nearly 90 feet deep dating back to as early as the 15th century.
TERRY: So, Brennan, the new plan is, we're gonna just
burn down for the first 49 feet.
- Okay. - And that gets the sweet spot
of 110 to about 120,
where we hope to intersect a tunnel in and around 110.
- So we're gonna take it to 120 to be sure. - Sure.
MARTY: We have been chasing all around the C-1 cluster,
trying to figure out what's going on
and getting some really interesting results.
I don't know what to make of the wood that keeps coming up,
several of which have dated to 1480 to 1650.
And the metal from D-2 had gold in it.
So that could be very significant.
CHARLES: So, we know
that right in line of F-2 is D-2,
and that's where we hit--
We found those three pieces of metal.
- Wow. - So, it could be,
it just could be a tunnel that we may find here.
- Let's hope. - So-- Let's hope.
If it's there, Mike will find it.
That we will.
RICK: What we are engaged in
is trying to understand what is happening underground.
It's critically important to analyze the data
from the drill program and see if it affects
where you put the ten-foot cans.
I think, right now, we've got a little bit of connective tissue.
We've got high gold and silver water sample tests
that are saying that this might be
a-a premiere location for a large can.
What you got, Adam?
- 86. - 86.
It's a heavy one. Feels like wood.
TERRY: Wow.
That looks like it's all wood.
CHARLES: We could be in another shaft.
NARRATOR: Part of a shaft?
Found in the same area, and at nearly
the same depth where the team
recently discovered both evidence of a tunnel
and also treasure?
TERRY: Look, the grain is perpendicular to the stroke of the drill.
I would say that's a shaft wall.
NARRATOR: If so, who built it?
A prior group of searchers?
Or could it have been someone
who hid something here long, long ago?
- Hey, Scott. - Hey, guys.
TERRY: Scott, how are you doing?
- CHARLES: Hey, Steve. - STEVE G.: Hey, guys.
- Hey, Steve. - How's it looking?
Well, as you see, from 82 feet to 89 feet,
quite a substantial section of stacked timbers here.
- Seems to me it's a shaft wall. - Yeah.
So, we already know there is a tunneling system around C-1.
Or, it's the original Money Pit.
We keep getting evidence of tunnels and shafts that
are totally undocumented in the C-1 cluster.
So, we're trying to define what these shafts are
and who made these tunnels and where they're going.
It might even give us the puzzle pieces we need
to figure this whole thing out.
Let's see if we can repeat it. Hit it again.
- Yeah. - STEVE G.: That's right.
- So, we'll carry on. - Right on.
Once more into the breach.
TEDFORD: Watch your fingers!
NARRATOR: While the drilling operation
continues in the Money Pit area...
GARY: There should be some good stuff here.
RICK: You would think.
nearly a mile to the west,
Rick Lagina and metal detection expert Gary Drayton
arrive at Lot 4 to continue searching for
a feature that, if found, could corroborate
one of the most incredible theories
ever presented about the Oak Island treasure.
GARY: It's only a matter of time before we pull up
some coins out of this area.
So, where it points at "The Hole Under the Hatch,"
as the map depicts it.
It looks like it's a wooded area.
It looks like it's over on Lot 4.
Yes, it does.
NARRATOR: Two weeks ago,
mechanical engineer Matt Sandt
presented the team with his research
on a reported 14th-century map that was first shown
to Rick, Marty and the team back in 2016
by the late author and historian Zena Halpern.
It was Zena's belief that the map
had been created by members of the Knights Templar--
And noted secret locations around the island--
Written in French-- That represented key clues
to finding a vast
and potentially priceless treasure.
One of these sites was simply labeled as
"The Hole Under the Hatch."
Back by the main road on the western side, just up there
on Lot 4...
Yeah, the pink and then those red dots.
Do you see that?
NARRATOR: Over the past two weeks,
the team has not only marked a large,
buried metallic anomaly using a magnetometer,
but also found several intriguing artifacts,
including a leather strap
and a gold-plated button.
- I'll try over here. - Okay.
However, due to the new island-wide restrictions
imposed by the Department
of Community, Culture and Heritage,
they will need to recover more compelling evidence
before they can obtain a permit
to conduct a large excavation in the area.
(Gary mutters)
(beeping)
Well, that sounds good, mate.
This little baby wants to be rescued. Just there.
All right. Let's recheck the hole.
It got stronger. I like the sound of this.
Let's see if I can pinpoint it.
(beeping)
There it is.
Wow! Look at that.
Big old iron spike.
That is heavy as well, that's an oldie.
I mean, this is chunky iron,
just up from the shoreline like this,
I have no idea the use of it.
So, Dr. Brosseau, XRF, get it cleaned,
get it conserved, and see what it says.
Yeah. And get Carmen Legge
- to have a gander at it as well. - Yup.
RICK: I have a special place
for Zena Halpern and her research,
but we are still trying to understand the map.
All right, mate. Let's keep gridding.
RICK: To prove the significance of it,
we've got to find and hold evidence in our hand that
these things exist, well and truly exist.
(beeping)
Two-way repeatable signal.
That's a little screamer.
Just there, mate.
My lucky digger's on fire!
(Rick chuckles)
Hopefully it's still in the hole, mate.
- (beeping) - It is.
Come on, me little beauty.
(chuckles)
Ooh. Look at that.
That is...
- That looks like a... - Like a tool?
GARY: Yeah. Is it an old adze?
- Could be. - I mean, we find all that
wood with the bark, the old timbers.
That's what it looks like to me, maybe,
- an adze? - Yup.
NARRATOR: A possible adze?
Discovered on Lot 4?
Dating back to the times of ancient Egypt,
an adze is a type of cutting tool featuring a sharp edge
that runs perpendicular to its handle
and was designed for use in ship building
or detailed woodwork on structures.
If this tool proves to be an adze, as Gary believes,
could it be connected to some kind of structure
that was built long ago in this area?
RICK: If some activity on Lot 4
was done long ago,
they would need to shape timbers
in order to do cribbing of the underground works.
I-I don't know a whole lot about an adze, you know,
but I know it's used for shaping wood.
That's interesting.
I love these interesting finds.
And we're getting more and more interesting finds on Lot 4.
- But that is really cool. - It's a curious find.
- Yeah. - It's a very curious find.
This and that nice old piece of iron,
that spike, whatever it is, can easily be dated.
They're both interesting enough to warrant that,
- that's for sure. - Yeah, for sure, mate.
I think we have ended the day on a high with this note.
RICK: I agree.
NARRATOR: The following day...
(horn honking)
- Here it is, guys. - There it is.
ALEX: Oh, man. Look at that.
(laughs)
Alex Lagina, Oak Island historian Charles Barkhouse,
and heavy equipment operator Billy Gerhardt
gather near the swamp to receive a 35-ton long-reach excavator.
ALEX: Look at that! That's really something.
- BILLY: That's a long junk of stuff, yeah. - (Alex laughs)
ALEX: You don't appreciate it until it kind of turns
- and goes past ya. - Exactly.
NARRATOR: With the capability of reaching up to 80 feet
out into the swamp,
and to much deeper depths than they've been able
to dig in this area before...
- ALEX: Oh, yeah. - it is the team's hope
to not only find more evidence that could help
prove Fred Nolan's incredible theory
but also anything of value
that might lie buried beneath the muck and mud.
We have a number of items that we believe,
from a layman's perspective,
can be associated with a ship,
or the building of ships, even.
- CHARLES: Hey, guys. - MARTY: So now
we're digging to see what's there.
And hopefully find some information
that puts this whole puzzle together.
- Nice machine, Billy. - Yes, it is, Marty.
- Hi, guys. - MARTY: Hey, Charles.
- You ready? - CHARLES: Absolutely.
I was just wondering where to start.
You like starting here? Rick likes starting here?
- Yeah. - Let Gary figure out
where he wants the material laid down.
We have to lay eyes on this, because
the number of finds we've made that are wooden...
There's something in there,
- I think. - Right.
- Yeah. - Put it where you want it to go, Billy,
- and let's take a few shovelfuls. - Yep.
- It's time to dig. - BILLY: Time to dig.
Ready to go?
GARY: Yep! Ready to rock and roll, Billy.
Here we go, ready for
- some slop. - CHARLES: Oh, yeah.
NARRATOR: While Billy begins digging with the long-range excavator,
Marty Lagina uses a smaller, 13-ton excavator
to clear water away from the area as it accumulates.
Meanwhile, Gary Drayton will scan
the spoils for any potential metal clues... or valuables.
I don't know that there's a quote-un-quote
treasure chest, or-or, or something that
can be retrieved from the body of the swamp.
But Mr. Nolan did find some ship parts there,
and his beliefs are now being validated because
we are finding ship items.
So, if there is a ship there, then I want to see the evidence.
I want to prove that, indeed, uh...
at the bottom of the swamp there is a ship.
We don't have that information yet.
You want to walk in there?
GARY: Uh... Yeah. Please.
That'd be great. There we go. Thanks.
- CHARLES: See all this water here? - ALEX: Yeah.
CHARLES: The trench is starting to silt up.
Look at that. There she goes.
- CHALRES: Yeah. - LAIRD: Hey, guys.
- Hey, Laird. - GARY: Hey, mate.
Requested a shovel. How are things going?
Well, it's just getting going now.
We're getting to deeper layers.
- Okay. - Now we're going
to try to get the majority
of that water to get moving.
Marty's clearing the ditch a little bit.
- LAIRD: Okay. - RICK: So, the hope is that
we can continue to move that way,
towards the areas that we have...
Yeah, this all falls within
- the permit that we have. - Yes.
Yes. Nothing there, Gary?
No. Nothing.
ALEX: That does not look like a...
- RICK: Oh. - ALEX: That's a pretty big log.
CHARLES: Got a big log in here, Billy!
- RICK: It's huge. - CHARLES: Yeah.
NARRATOR: At the southern edge of the triangle-shaped swamp,
the Oak Island team has just made
a potentially important discovery.
- RICK: That's a big stump. - BILLY: Yeah.
- RICK: How deep was that? - Four to six.
I think that's the root at the bottom, right?
- Over here? - I think so. Yeah.
RICK: It's pretty big, whatever it is.
BILLY: The color is like oak.
- Did you do this, Gary? - Yeah, I did it. Yeah.
No metal hits in that.
RICK: Well, it was four to six feet down.
I mean, that says something about dry--
It being dry land.
- Yeah. - And then, somehow,
four feet of organics went over
the top of it and then it became a wetland.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: A possible oak tree stump?
Found in the southern region of the swamp?
Because oak trees cannot grow naturally
in water environments,
could Rick be correct that this stump offers
more evidence that the swamp was artificially made,
just like the late Fred Nolan strongly believed?
RICK: At one time, that had to be
- forestland, right? - Yeah. Yeah.
A tree of this size would not be rooted,
unless it were dry.
It may provide a certain date as to
when the swamp became a swamp.
And it may be able to tell a story.
I'd love to see a 500-year representation
- of what this may have looked like. - Mm.
LAIRD: And that could help explain some of the other things
that are happening around here.
If that's the root, you cut it, figure out how old it is, first,
and then draw your interpretation from there.
- Right? - Yeah. Yeah.
RICK: It'd be nice to know how old that is.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
CHARLES: What's the good word there, Adam?
- 109. - 109. Chips and chunks.
Just chips and chunks.
while the operations in the swamp
and the Money Pit area continue...
RICK: I always like coming here.
I like talking to this guy.
ALEX: Yeah. Really interesting.
NARRATOR: some 50 miles north of Oak Island,
in Centreville, Nova Scotia...
- Hey, Carmen. - Hey, Carmen!
- ALEX: We're back again. - Marty Lagina, his son Alex,
and Jack Begley arrive at Northville Farm.
- Got some goodies? - ALEX: We do.
- MARTY: We hope so. - All right.
- Let's have a look at them. - Yeah.
NARRATOR: They are eager to have blacksmithing expert
Carmen Legge examine the believed ancient
adze cutting tool that Rick and Gary Drayton
recently discovered on Lot 4.
ALEX: So, this was found on Lot 4,
which is on the north side of the island.
CARMEN: Okay.
And you just kinda scrape it along?
Oh, okay.
But it, um...
Yeah.
Um...
- Those are good numbers. - Yeah.
CARMEN: It is. Yeah.
NARRATOR: An English-style adze?
Dating back more than 150 years prior to
the discovery of the Money Pit?
If so, what might it have been used for on Oak Island?
And specifically, on Lot 4?
Are there any houses or homesteads over there?
There's no-- I don't think there's ever been
anything constructed on Lot 4.
If you had an expedition to sink a shaft,
for whatever reason, you would need timbers.
- Yes. - And you'd want them to fit together well.
- Yes. - So, you might need such a tool.
You send your crew over there, "I need...
I need 400 six-by-sixes."
Whatever. "And they better fit."
Then you'd need that, right?
- You would use a tool like this. - MARTY: Yeah.
- For the cribbing? - MARTY: Exactly.
I'm actually glad that we're looking closer at Lot 4.
Man, that's a bit of a mystery.
This is an adze.
I mean, he's absolutely sure.
It's old and it's corroded, but it probably was
made somewhere between 1620 to 1740.
That's good stuff. That's clearly pre-searcher.
Okay. Well, that's interesting.
It's very old, potentially,
but it's kind of a mystery, still.
- Very old. - So that's good.
Bit of a mystery.
You know, out of place
on Oak Island. What a shock.
All right. Well, thank you very much.
- All right, Carmen. - Very good.
- Always a pleasure. - See you.
We'll see you on the island, hopefully.
Very good. Enjoy your trip.
MARTY: Brilliant!
- ALEX: Hey, guys. - DOUG: Gentlemen.
NARRATOR: In the Oak Island war room...
- Welcome back. - Marty and Alex Lagina,
along with Jack Begley, gather with Rick
and members of the team to share Carmen Legge's analysis
of the mysterious adze that was found on Lot 4.
There it is: a beautiful adze.
- Oh, goodness. - Really? - ALEX: Mm-hmm.
- RICK: We thought it might be. - GARY: Yeah.
ALEX: Yeah, so he confirmed that.
He knew exactly what that was. He said this
is an adze, but he said English style.
Excellent.
ALEX: Because of the square hole,
which you can see, and as well as
the notch right there.
Also potentially makes it as old as 1620 to 1740.
- Wow. - Wow.
- That is fantastic. - MARTY: Yeah.
The idea is that you could use
an axe to make a hand-hewn timber.
But if that timber needed to be smooth,
more like this tabletop, you'd work this thing.
This would have been very sharp.
It's where you need a fine finish.
- ALEX: Right. - Finer than just axe-cut.
JACK: So what's it doing over on Lot 4?
Unless, possibly, it has to do with the hatch?
Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
The only thing I can think on Lot 4 that
we have any information for is the hatch from Zena's map.
I mean, Zena's map goes back to 13, 1400s,
but still, we're having a lot of finds
on Lot 4, so on the western side of the island.
What were they doing over here?
Yeah, and I bloody love that date range.
That is well before the story of the Money Pit.
RICK: The date is very interesting:
1620 to 1740.
It seems that we keep pushing the dates,
uh, of the finds further and further back.
I find that quite compelling.
If you're making significant finds on the lot line between
4 and 5, then we should continue to clear out Lot 4.
I think that the work done on Oak Island was incremental.
In other words, there seems to be
a master plan and it was implemented
over a period of years, if not decades.
MARTY: Okay. Well, that's our story.
Uh, could be very significant 'cause it's quite old.
It could be even older after you find out about this, Rick.
And then, then we're just left with the problem of, well,
- how long was it used before it was discarded? - Yeah.
RICK: As far as Lot 4 is concerned,
these are not just one-off things.
Everything we talk about here in the war room should lead us
to advancing the search agenda and that's...
And I think we've done that.
This proves there's more things to find,
but we won't find them in here.
Let's go.
NARRATOR: The following morning...
CHARLES: Water and soil is not a good mixture.
ALEX: No.
- It's like Jell-O. - CHARLES: Yeah.
The world's worst Jell-O.
Yeah. Exactly.
I don't think I like this flavor.
- (both laugh) - At all.
NARRATOR: Rick, Marty and members of the team go back to work,
searching for more important clues--
And hopefully valuables--
In the southernmost region of the swamp.
You know what? That excavator looks really big
until you start doing this and look at that swamp
and it doesn't look so big anymore, does it?
No.
It just goes to show yet again, if you wanted
to hide something, boy, was this ever a good way.
(Laird chuckles)
RICK: Heads up. Swinging, swinging around.
- Does that look flat? - RICK: I guess it does.
GARY: Yeah, it does, doesn't it?
Are those little chopping marks,
from something like a little adze
or something like that?
Or is that-- Do you think that's just natural split?
I don't know, but we'll wash it...
GARY: It's awfully straight, isn't it?
wash it off.
NARRATOR: A piece of wood?
Possibly cut by an adze?
If so, could it be connected to the adze
that was unearthed two days ago on Lot 4?
You're right, Gary. Right there.
Or is it from a much earlier time period?
RICK: Hey, Laird!
- Come here a minute? - LAIRD: Yeah.
RICK: It appears that there are
some hand cuts on the wood.
In terms of the importance of an adze-cut piece of wood,
timbers of long ago were shaped by an adze.
We also know that it was used in shipbuilding.
It looks like a chop mark from something like an adze.
RICK: I think it's very early.
I think there's a lot more work to be done.
But, in the moment, it's surprising.
It's, it's, uh... exciting.
Um...
I-It's remarkable.
Kind of looks hewn, doesn't it?
I don't know. And then you have that.
LAIRD: See this, here?
It's kind of a possible cut.
That, I think is-- Could be of interest.
We're not too far away from where
we found that piece of wood.
I mean, that dated back to 700.
- RICK: Let me throw some water on this. - LAIRD: Okay.
RICK: I think everything that we pull from the swamp
needs to be looked at carefully.
The most innocuous piece of wood
might have some very relevant information.
Whatcha got, big brother?
I don't know if it's anything.
Right there.
- Okay. - Right there.
MARTY: Pretty rotten. Look at this, though.
- Right here. - Yeah, I don't know.
MARTY: It passes the first test.
It's shaped wood.
So, if somebody analyzes it, some expert...
if something comes through that it's very ancient,
then they become significant. But...
But they are already somewhat significant
because we're only digging in a small area of the swamp.
And why, really, at depth are shaped pieces
of wood in there at all?
Is that another piece?
Yeah, I'm gonna put a board and go fish that out.
- Hang on, Billy. - LAIRD: I'll do it.
GARY: All right, mate.
I can't let that go. Not now.
All right, mate. Thanks.
- I'm going to push you forward a bit. - All right, mate.
(chuckles)
CHARLES: Oh, Gary's going in.
He's going in.
GARY: I thought it looked...
It is. Look!
This is the same log!
It's another flat piece...
- Yeah. - and it's got that same notch in.
NARRATOR: Near the southernmost region of the swamp...
- Thanks, mate. - Got it.
the Oak Island team has just made
another potentially important discovery.
Look at that. And then it goes down at a slope.
Oh, that looks like a cut.
- It does, doesn't it? - Yeah.
GARY: That's the piece I saw.
- LAIRD: Yeah. - MARTY: What do you got?
Interesting piece of wood, mate.
Just like this other piece
of wood that we found,
it's got like two indents here.
Well, I have a man down on the beach,
- so I'll get it washed. - Okay, mate. - All right.
Very similar to that other one.
MARTY: Billy and Gary find a few pieces of wood.
They clearly appear to be man-made.
Here you go, have a go at that one.
It's heavy.
I can't tell what they are, they just look like planks,
but maybe when we clean them up, maybe they'll
reveal what they might have been used for.
Is that one a little more interesting?
A little bit more suspicious.
All I'm thinking is,
is it a candidate for C-14 or not?
MARTY: Right. In other words, is it man-made?
- RICK: I think this is... - It's angled.
RICK: Yeah, it's like, chopped, right?
- Yeah, to what end, though? - I don't know. (scoffs)
Yeah, that swamp is really, really weird.
Would you expect something else?
- What's the definition of madness? - (both chuckle)
- We're not there yet. - We're close.
RICK: Every time we dig anywhere on Oak Island, we find something.
Uh, and that is certainly true in the swamp proper.
- These are the finds? - MARTY: Yeah.
RICK: Retrieve everything, look at it carefully,
document it, and then try to reconstruct something.
There might be two pieces of wood retrieved
at different times that have some sort of connection.
It does feel like there's a cut there.
Thick and worn.
Rounded.
RICK: And we're close by where Terry Deveau
projected the wharf.
Are we?
Yeah.
NARRATOR: Could Billy Gerhardt's notion
that these pieces of hand-hewn boards
are actually connected to the nearby stone wharf be correct?
BILLY: If it's an open harbor, it's deeper on this side, right?
And it gets shallower up in the-- b-by the eye, right?
Yeah, and the most interesting stuff would be on the bottom,
- right here, then. - Yeah.
- Which, you're not there yet. - No.
MARTY: If something is hiding out there,
it's got a lot of places to hide.
BILLY: Lots of places.
GARY: All right, Billy, how about
some treasure tomorrow?
I'm with you, Gary, on that.
GARY: God, I love this place.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
MARTY: Dr. Brosseau, welcome back to the war room.
Appreciate you being willing to travel.
It really helps us a lot.
NARRATOR: Rick, Marty and Craig have invited
Professor of Chemistry Dr. Christa Brosseau
to meet with members of the team in the war room
to present her analysis of several items
discovered one week ago on Lot 4.
These items include a mysterious metal object
as well as a button
which preliminary X-ray fluorescence scanning revealed
to contain a significant amount of gold.
CHRISTA: So, I'll start with the button.
So, this is sort of a classic tombac button.
What does that word mean?
Yeah, "tombac" is, uh,
one of, sort of, a common term
- given to a high zinc-copper alloy. - Oh, okay.
CHRISTA: This is the breakdown of the main body of the button.
It's, uh, copper-tin with a fairly high zinc content.
Arsenic and lead are also present.
Likely they were original to the copper itself,
predating the modern refinement of copper alloys.
The copper loop has a very high bismuth content,
which is indicative that the copper originated in Britain.
And so, this is most likely a-a British-origin button.
You will see the circles around the-the eye.
And that's a very characteristic feature for buttons
that were made between 1726 and 1776.
NARRATOR: A British button,
potentially dating back 70 years prior
to the discovery of the Money Pit?
Since the team has found a number
of British military artifacts from the same period
across the island over the past several years,
could that answer the question of who may have buried something
of great value on Oak Island?
Or could it mean that the British were here searching
for something left much earlier by someone else?
So, the next object is the piece of metal.
It is definitely a copper alloy.
It has a pretty high tin content,
so it's kind of consistent with what's called
a tin bronze or a bell metal.
Specialty metal.
- Yeah. - When was this alloy identified?
In other words, when did it come into use?
I would say it's older, yeah.
Because the copper contains arsenic,
and usually that's been removed by more modern refining methods.
Would the presence of arsenic in both
suggest that the bell metal would come from the same suspect
- as the button? - No, I don't think so.
RICK: When you go back to the screen,
you'll see, at the-the last sentence there,
it says, "Bell metal was used to construct early cannons
by the Spanish and Portuguese."
Yeah.
NARRATOR: In the Oak Island war room
chemist Dr. Christa Brosseau has just shared
an incredible report that the metal object found
one week ago on Lot 4 by Gary Drayton
may be of either Spanish or Portuguese origin.
So, the tin gives the-the metal strength and rigidity.
So, it's been used historically for bells, obviously,
but also for the production of cannons.
MARTY: Would you find it likely to find this
on other places in the Maritimes?
That's a good question.
Um, I'd have to do some more digging into that,
but, um, it's possible.
- We can do some research on that. - Yeah, for sure.
What is Lot 4?
- What's your interest there? - Uh, it's...
RICK: There was this map,
which we, in truth, are still trying to vet.
You know, as part of Zena Halpern's research,
there is a reference to "the hatch."
And, uh, so, we continue to search for that.
We were chasing, uh, the hatch,
and we were using the magnetometer hits from CSR,
and that was the first piece we pulled up
in one of the anomalies.
Actually, I'm-I'm very intrigued by the possibility
that piece of bell metal might be associated
- with Portuguese on the island. - Mm-hmm.
They were among the first to use cannon on board ships.
NARRATOR: It is well-documented that Portuguese explorers
frequently visited Nova Scotia
between the 16th and 18th centuries.
However, some Oak Island theorists believe
that members of a Portuguese branch of the Knights Templar,
known as the Knights of Christ, may have come to the region
much earlier to hide a vast and priceless treasure.
GARY: Ooh, look at that.
NARRATOR: Five weeks ago, while searching on Lot 16,
Rick and Gary Drayton
discovered a small, ancient stone cannonball
known as a "gunstone."
- MICHAEL J.: Steve, look at this. - Yes?
NARRATOR: It was a near match to one found last year in the spoils
excavated in 2019 from the Money Pit area.
Amazingly, both of these gunstones
were found to potentially be of Portuguese origin.
Could those gunstones,
along with this fragment from a possible cannon,
as well as the stone wharf in the swamp
all be corroborative evidence that this theory is true?
And this is why Dr. Brousseau
is such a, you know, such a great resource.
This metal was used by the Spanish and the Portuguese
for quite some time.
It's an interesting thing to think that such a metal
used in bells and cannons would be on Lot 4.
- Another mystery. - Another mystery.
- RICK: Yeah. - DOUG: Gary's work with the metal detector
just seems to indicate
there's-- was a lot of activity in that general area.
The finds say that there was activity
over a seemingly long period of time.
TOM: Something...
happened in that area.
Something about this island a-attracted a lot
- of effort. - Mm-hmm.
We got to go down that road and see where that might lead.
Okay. Well, again, thank you for coming down.
I always enjoy these-these sessions very much.
My pleasure. Good luck.
RICK: Thank you.
NARRATOR: After another successful week
that resulted in new discoveries made all across Oak Island,
the Laginas and their team may be closer than ever
to finally revealing the secrets
that have endured for more than two centuries.
But as they continue to narrow down the possibilities
of who may have been behind this mystery,
are they also zeroing in on a vast cache of treasure?
Or will they find that the deeper they dig,
the darker the secrets become?
Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...
Oh.
Could be more pieces of a ship.
MARTY: Holy smokes. What do you think of that, Rick?
The swamp is yielding things.
- (beeping) - Wow, it sounds fantastic.
What the bloody hell is this?
CARMEN: It's a typical strap
- for a heavy chest. - Really?
- That's a nice surprise. - (laughs)
RICK: I have always thought the way
to figure out the Money Pit was finding Shaft 6.
TERRY: Okay! Look at that.
If it's Shaft 6, how far are we from the Money Pit?
18 feet.
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